Orange and White Strawberries
by Awesomly Awesome
Summary: Ichigo snapped, "You think you can do a better job? Then here. Prove it." The aftermath of Ichigo's first clash with Grimmjow leads Ichigo to question if his Hollow is truly evil... No Yaoi
1. He's evil, right?

_**I don't own Bleach**_

**He's evil, right?**

"_You may be friends, but if you continue to be a Shinigami, you'll slowly be devoured by the hollow inside you, and lose your mind. When that happens, it's game over. Your own power will destroy everything: your friends, your future, and yourself… everything will be ground to bits. Come join us, Ichigo."_

That's what he said to me, the Visard, Shinji, that had come to me a few nights ago.

I knew he was right, even before Shinji had showed up, I could hear the Hollow's voice growing stronger, getting louder, easier to understand. Sometimes, I would only be able to hear a faint whispering, while other times I could hear the Hollow yelling at me in the back of my head; insulting me, calling me weak. Those 'other times' were getting more frequent.

I knew he was right, but that doesn't mean I had to accept that, or join them. Like hell was I gonna join them, they could go find some other human-turned-Shinigami-turned-Visard to join them.

I guess I was paying for thinking that now, maybe I did need their help.

* * *

"Ichigo, fall back now!" Rukia shouted, "Le-ea-," But her words were cut off as the Arrancar who had introduced himself as Grimmjow suddenly appeared in front of her and jabbed his hand into her gut.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled as he grabbed Zangetsu off of his back and charged Grimmjow. He swung, but Grimmjow stopped it with his wrist, a board expression on his face. He flicked his writs to the side, sending Ichigo flying backwards a ways, "Oi, you underestimating me Shinigami?" he said as he scratched the side of his face, "Ah well, I still don't feel like killen' you yet anyways." He paused, an evil grin crawled across his face, "Cut the crap Shinigami, and show me your Bankai! If you don't, then I'll do the same thing that I did to your little friend over there and put a fuckin' hole through ya!"

Over where he had landed, Ichigo scowled, but brought Zangetsu in front of him, resting his left arm on his right, the wrappings on Zangetsu's hilt wrapped itself around his arm. "Ban Kai!" When the dust cleared, Ichigo had a slimmer, pitch black blade in his hands, and was wearing a black long-sleeve tattered jacket that went down past his knees. It was connected at his chest, but flared out as it went down.

"That's it? That's your Bankai? That's so pitiful! It's tiny!" Grimmjow said, suppressing laughter.

In response, Ichigo disappeared and reappeared in front of Grimmjow, swinging the black Tensa Zangetsu at his head. He dodged. Swing at his legs-dodge. Swing at his head again-he caught the black blade in his hands, and smiled before throwing Ichigo backwards once again.

This time, he didn't go just a few feet backwards; he got thrown a few blocks. Ichigo hadn't even stopped moving yet, when Grimmjow appeared in front of him, ready to stab him with his hand. His grin widened when he saw the surprised look on Ichigo's face.

To his surprise though, Ichigo was suddenly behind him, swinging his black blade straight at Grimmjow's face. He caught it with his elbow. Smirking, he kicked Ichigo hard, in the head, sending him flying backwards. Before he got more than a few feet, Grimmjow appeared above him and kicked him again; this time straight down.

Grimmjow appeared next to the small crater where Ichigo had landed, "Psh, like I said, that thing's a Bankai? Pathetic."

Expecting Ichigo to be knocked out, Grimmjow walked forward a few steps, so he was standing on the edge of the rapidly dispersing dust cloud. "Getsuga Tenshou!

Grimmjow was defiantly _not _expecting the black-and-red-tinted attack, and hastily put up his arms in defense. He was blown back, and when the attack ended, he was left with a bloody gash across his forearms and chest. It would most likely scar.

He slowly lowered his arms, a murderous look on his face, "What sort of technique was that, cause' it defiantly wasn't in Ulquiorra's report, Shinigami."

Across from Grimmjow, Ichigo smirked, "How's that Arrancar, did I end your disappointment?"

'_What's a matter Ichigo? You look kinda' tired there.' _Ichigo could practically see the Hollow smirking at him, standing there, twirling his white Tensa Zangetsu by the chain at the end.

Black tendrils started creeping across his vision, he could feel the Hollow taking control, "No, not yet… Wait just a little longer, damn it!" He brought his free hand up, resting his hand on his head, but kept his eyes locked onto Grimmjow.

"Ha, it seems that it's finally worth killing you, Shinigami!" he frowned, "Stop staring into space! It's my turn now!"

When Grimmjow was saying this, Ichigo had indeed been spacing out, '_Shit, that attack was originally used by the Hollow, using it brings him out faster, at this rate, I'll only be able to use it two or three times without losing it.'_

'_Or, you could be nice and let me have some fun' _

Ichigo ignored him, he didn't have time to be wasting arguing with the Hollow, Grimmjow had decided he had recovered enough, and had jumped at him, sword drawn. He crashed into Ichigo's black blade, forcing him back.

Ichigo winced as their blades met, his head was still pounding from hitting the sidewalk, and it didn't help that he was fighting off the growing presence of the Hollow, who was slowly gaining more and more control. His movements were sluggish, and he could hear the words whispered by the Hollow, teasing him, mocking him, calling him weak, useless.

'_You're weak, you're letting this little weakling beat you up, let me have control, let me fight him, you're weak and pathetic, useless, let me out, let me have control.'_

Ichigo grit his teeth, even though he didn't respond to the Hollow, he could still hear his remarks loud and clear, and they were starting to bother him, because Ichigo could see it. He was weak; Grimmjow was playing with him, swinging his sword not with the intent to hit him, but to make him see how weak he was before he finished Ichigo off.

'_You're weak, I could do a much better job.'_

That did it, pushing off of Grimmjow's blade, he put some distance between them. Grimmjow stood up straight and smiled, content to sit there while his opponent attempted to catch his breath.

"_Fine, you think you can do a better job, then here." _He mentally stepped back and pushed the Hollow forward, into control.

For a moment, the Hollow just stood there stunned, before breaking out into a shit-eating grin, "Oh, this is interesting Ichigo, very interesting indeed." The Hollow mask started forming on the left side of his face in all of its white and red glory.

Across from Hollow Ichigo, Grimmjow's grin faded slightly, "Who're you talking to, Shinigami? And what's that on your face."

The grin on Hollow Ichigo's face grew wider, and he let out a laugh, distorted and made unnecessarily creepy by his hollow voice, "You got it wrong, Arrancar, I'm no Shinigami." as he said this, he brought the black Tensa Zangetsu up to about chest height, and parallel to the ground.

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes, "If you are not a Shinigami, them what are you."

"Who knows?" was Hollow Ichigo's simple response as he slid his hand across the blade, turning it white. With no warning, Hollow Ichigo lunged at Grimmjow, slashing at him and forcing him backwards. Laughing manically the whole time.

This time, it was Grimmjow who found himself thinking he was weak, he was being pushed backwards, and it didn't even seem like Hollow Ichigo was trying.

Grimmjow blocked a slash aimed at his head from above, but was confused when Hollow Ichigo brought his hand up to about the middle of the blade. He smiled wickedly, "Getsuga Tenshou."

This time, instead of the black red-tinted wave of power, a white tinted black-at-the-edges wave was sent straight at his face from only a few inches away.

Grimmjow had managed to get a hand up in time though, and perform a Cero to counter the attack; the resulting explosion blew both Hollow Ichigo and Grimmjow backwards.

When the dust cleared, Hollow Ichigo laughed, "This is fun! I really need to do this more often!" And was about to charge Grimmjow again, when he sensed another portal to Hueco Mundo opening. He stopped and frowned, "You guys are runnin' around like little cockroaches, ain't chya?"

The portal had opened right behind Grimmjow, and the figure who had come out put his hand on Grimmjow's shoulder, "We are leaving, _now."_

Grimmjow's eye twitched, "Che, fine Tousen." He turned and started walking toward the portal, but stopped, "Oi, Shinigami or whatever you are, you got lucky, you would have never survived against my released form. Do not forget my name, and hope that you'll never heat it again. Grimmjow Jaguarjack!" he turned back around and walked into the portal.

Hollow Ichigo smiled, as the portal was closing, he cheerily called out, "Okaaaaay Grimmy! I won't forget youuuuu!" and waved at the, no doubt pissed, Grimmjow.

Ichigo didn't know what to do. He had been able to see the whole fight go on and had to admit, the Hollow was pretty good. Even though Ichigo hated to admit it, the Hollow was faster and was defiantly better at using Getsuga Tenshou than he was.

But that wasn't the problem right now. As the angry face of Grimmjow disappeared behind the portal to Hueco Mundo, Ichigo was faced with a new problem-getting his body back under his control. Every other time the Hollow had taken control, it had been by force, so Ichigo had felt fully justified to take back control by force. But this time, Ichigo had stepped down and _let _the Hollow take control. It felt...not wrong exactly, but not right either to go fight for control.

Ichigo was quiet. What do you say to the hollow that lives inside your head after you gave it control of your body, but now want that control back?

Outwardly, Hollow Ichigo laughed, "At a loss for words are we?" He paused to laugh here again, and stabbed the white Tensa Zangetsu into the ground in front of him. "Well anyway, I'm board. See ya aibou!" and he promptly pushed Ichigo back into control, disappearing back into Ichigo's Inner World somewhere.

Ichigo didn't understand, isn't that what the Hollow had wanted, freedom? Why hadn't he taken this golden opportunity to steal Ichigo's body and went on a killing rampage or something; Ichigo was defiantly weak enough were he would have lost, and the Hollow had known it. Ichigo reached forward and grabbed the white Tensa Zangetsu's hilt, turning it back to black with his touch. Wasn't he just like all other hollows; craving death and destruction all the time?

If so, then why had he given Ichigo back control of his body? He's just like all the other hollows, right? He's evil, right?

* * *

**This concludes the first chapter of Orange and White Strawberries. I saw this idea out there in a few fanfics, but they weren't very well thought out, and it was kinda disapointing. There was one that I found that was planned out very good, but it hadn't been updated in forever. I was disapointed at that...**


	2. Talking to the voice in your head

_**I don't own Bleach**_

**Talking to the voice in your head**

"Ichigo! Breakfast time!" Yuzu cheerily said as she opened her older brother's door. She frowned, there was something wrong… "Ah! I know! You're playing hide n' seek! That's why you're not here! I'll find you brother!" Yuzu said, determination in her voice.

She then proceeded to look in Ichigo's closet, under his bed, and under the sheets on his bed. When she didn't find him, she started to panic. What if he wasn't playing hide n' seek? What if he was kidnapped by bank robbers who had stopped in his room last night after robbing a bank? Or what if aliens had come to Earth last night, and taken him? The possibilities were endless.

"Daaaaaaadddddddddyyyyyy, Ichigo's missing!" She yelled.

As soon as those words had left her mouth, Isshin Kurosaki burst into his sons room, "Ah, where's Rukia-chan!" he yelled.

Rukia, who had been passing Ichigo's room at the time, stopped at her name, "Is everything all right Uncle?" she asked.

"Ah, good! You're ok Rukia-chan!"

Beside him, Yuzu had a worried look on her face, "Brother's missing, do you know where he is?"

"Ichigo?" Rukia quickly threw out her senses, trying to find out where he had gone. He could just be fighting some hollow somewhere, but then her phone would have gone off, and his body would be here at least. After a second or so, she found him. He was just aimlessly wandering around town, going nowhere in particular. "Ah, he told me that he was going to take a walk before school today. He's fine" Rukia responded.

She put on a smile and said, "Well, let's go eat breakfast!" Walking down to the kitchen though, she thought to herself, _'I'll have to talk to him later, he's all depressed again.'_

_

* * *

_

Rukia's guess was only partially right. Ichigo wasn't depressed, more like confused. I guess you could say he was still sulking about not being able to keep up with Grimmjow, but he was focusing more on his Hollow right now. After the fight had ended, any attempt to talk to his Hollow had been met with silence. It was getting rather annoying.

So, early that morning, before anyone had woken up, Ichigo had gotten up and started wandering aimlessly around town. He decided that if he was going to get answers out of the Hollow, then he should go into his Inner World and confront him.

Finding a place where you could sit down and essentially be dead to the living world was a problem though. Of course there were empty parks all over, but it was ridiculously early right now. Nobody might be there now, but there would defiantly be people there later. Going into your Inner World was like exiting your body; to a regular human, you were dead.

So, parks were out of the question. He could always head to some abandoned building… No, gangs usually hung around abandoned buildings.

Maybe he could go to Urahara; at least he would be undisturbed. Ichigo sighed; he would probably get suspicious if he just sat there dead to the world for too long though, and no doubt ask him what he was doing. Ichigo doubted that Urahara would approve of him talking to the Hollow, so that ruled that out.

Ichigo continued his aimless wanderings for a few more hours, until he decided that it was useless to try and find somewhere where nobody would be. Turning, he started to make his way back home.

Past the construction site, past the office buildings, past the parks where the Arrancar's reiatsu still lingered, scaring away regular humans, past the- Ichigo stopped, he hadn't noticed before, but the Arrancar's reiatsu was still thick in the air around where they had landed the first time. It seemed that regular humans were avoiding it; they probably felt _something _different in the air and stayed clear of where the Arrancar had landed.

Smiling slightly, Ichigo started making his way to where the two Arrancar-Ulquiorra and Yammy-had landed.

* * *

The Hollow didn't know what to think. Ichigo usually went out of his way to ignore the comments it made, pushing him back down into the depths of his Inner World. But after the fight against Grimmjow, when Ichigo had actually pushed the Hollow into control, Ichigo had actually been trying to contact him. The Hollow didn't know what he would actually say to Ichigo if he responded, so he kept quiet. If Ichigo _really _wanted to talk to him, then he would have to come into his Inner World.

After awhile, Ichigo had stopped trying to talk to him, and the Hollow felt disappointed. It looked like Ichigo didn't want to talk to him that badly after all. He ignored what was going on in the outside world for awhile, instead choosing to lay back on one of the sideways buildings and rest.

When he woke up, he found Ichigo wandering aimlessly around town. Curious, he focused his reiatsu and took a peak at what Ichigo was thinking about.

"_That damned Hollow is ignoring me. I'll just talk to him in my Inner World; there's no way he can ignore me in there."_

This surprised the Hollow, he was still gonna try and talk to him? The Hollow smirked, _'Interesting.'_

After a few hours, the Hollow was starting to get impatient; why the hell was it so hard to find a place where all those humans wouldn't disturb them! The Hollow knew that if Ichigo tried to enter his Inner World around regular people, then it would create a scene.

Which would lead to all the Shinigami that were hanging around here suspicious that he was trying to take control. If not, then it would defiantly lead to some questions that the Hollow thought were defiantly _not _good to answer.

On the outside, Ichigo sighed, and turned around. Tapping into his thoughts again, the Hollow saw that Ichigo had decided to just go home and pretend to be sick, lock himself in his room, and talk to him there. It wasn't the best solution because as soon as his reiatsu dropped, the Shinigami in the area would probably all come rushing to see what the problem was. Or at least Rukia and Renji would, they would probably think that he had lost control or something.

The Hollow sighed, this was irritating.

Halfway back to the house though, Ichigo stopped. Curious, the Hollow looked around where Ichigo had stopped. He was confused for a moment until Ichigo turned and started walking into the parks. Heading for a specific one in particular. The Hollow smiled, Ichigo _did _have his moments. He was heading toward the spot where the first two Arrancar had appeared. Their reiatsu was still thick in the air, and the humans were staying clear of the area. Plus, it would help block the other Shinigami from sensing Ichigo's reiatsu-they could talk in peace.

* * *

Ichigo reached the clearing where the two Arrancar had first appeared. He shivered, their reiatsu just felt _evil. _

He walked over to one of the trees on the outskirts of the clearing and sat down; slowly calming himself down, he descended into his Inner World.

When Ichigo opened his eyes, he found himself standing on one of the sideways buildings located in his Inner World.

"Yo, Ichigo, whacha' doin'" he heard from behind him.

Turning, he saw that it was the Hollow. For a moment, he just stared at the Hollow, taking in his appearance. He looked exactly the same as Ichigo, except for the colors. His hair was pure white, and the Shinigami robes that he wore were the opposite colors of his. His eyes were different too, the sclera was black and the iris was gold. His skin was a slightly paler shade of white, but it was hard to tell without staring for too long.

The grin on the Hollow's face faded slightly and he put his hands on his hips in an irritated manor, "Quit staring, it's rude ya know."

This seemed to snap Ichigo out of the trance he was in, he blinked and then said, "Who said I was staring at you? I was thinking about something!"

"Whoa, you were thinking? That's new." The Hollow said, with genuine surprise in his voice. "Anyway," he said, reaching up to grab his Zangetsu's hilt, "You come to fight?" he said with a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.

Across from him, Ichigo's eye twitched at the thinking comment, "Ah, wait, I didn't come here to fight, I want to talk to you."

The Hollow's grin faded into an unreadable expression, "Why?" was his simple response.

"Because of what you did after fighting Grimmjow, you could have taken control, and I want to know why you didn't."

The Hollow seemed to think about this for a minute. Sure he wanted control, but not all the time. That would mean he would be chased around by Shinigami, and it would also mean losing Zangetsu. Zangetsu was originally Ichigo's blade; if Ichigo was gone, then Zangetsu would be gone too. That would leave the Hollow all alone being chased by tons of high level Shinigami, wanting revenge on him for killing Ichigo. He would be dead in a matter of days.

There was also another reason; the body _did _belong to Ichigo first. Technically Ichigo was already the King, and him the horse. Now this would be fine and all if it wasn't for one simple fact: the King was weaker than the horse. The Hollow _hated _that.

There were other reasons too, but the Hollow decided to answer his counterpart's question, "I told you, I was board. There was no one there to fight me, so there was no reason for me to be there." Hell would freeze over before he told Ichigo his reasons.

Ichigo thought about this for a minute, that did make some sense, he had only tried to take control during a fight anyways. So he loved fighting, and was too lazy to look for an opponent. Now that he thought about it, it made less sense, but the Hollow didn't seem to want to give him any other answer. It was a possibility, anyways.

This time, the Hollow asked a question, "Is that the only reason you're here? Psh, how boring." He yawned, to further indicate his boardness.

"No, that's not the only reason I'm here, I have more questions."

"Fire away."

"When I saw you before, you seemed to hate me, but now you're talking like your fine with me. So which is it." Ichigo asked, he was genuinely curious as to the sudden change in personality.

The Hollow looked surprised for a minute before responding, "Both, I hate you, but I'm fine with you right now."

Ichigo took a minute to think about this, how the hell did that work? He hates me, but he's fine with me right now? But that lead to another question, "Why do you hate me?"

The Hollow decided to be one hundred percent truthful with this one, he frowned slightly and responded, "What's the difference between a King and his Horse. And no stupid answers like, 'one has two legs and one has four.'"

Ichigo blinked, what did this have to do with anything? But he decided to go along with it for now, "Um, I don't know." He said truthfully.

The Hollow's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms, "One carries the other. The Horse carries the King on his back. Why is that, if their forms, abilities, and strengths are the same, when one becomes the king, the other just lends his power. But what makes them different, is what I'm asking."

Ichigo didn't know how to respond.

When Ichigo didn't respond, the Hollow continued, "The difference is instinct. The instinct that is carved into us before we are even born, the instinct to fight, to become powerful, you lack any of it! You try to fight your enemies with a sheathed sword, and it irritates me to no end that the weaker of the two is the King! That is why I hate you."

The Hollow turned and started walking away, "If that's all, then I'm leaving."

"Wait."

The Hollow stopped, and turned his head, "Hm, you wanna fight me now?" he said, a smile creeping onto his face, "Cause' that sounds like lotsa fun!"

"No, I don't want to fight you." Ichigo had his scowl set firmly in place, "If you hate me so much, then why didn't you kill me and take over before, and don't use the excuse 'I was board,' it's not gonna work for this one."

The Hollow mimicked his scowl and responded, "I didn't feel like it. You looked so pathetic, it would have been a _joke _to fight you then. You're too weak Ichigo."

"So why don't you train me." Ichigo was surprised at his own request-where did that come from?

The Hollow burst out laughing.

* * *

Ichigo had been gone the whole day.

That morning, when Yuzu had freaked out over Ichigo disappearing, Rukia hadn't given a second thought about it. He had his Shinigami badge, and he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Rukia had decided to talk to him when he got back though, he didn't need to walk around all depressed at a time like this, when the Arrancar could appear any moment.

Sometime around noon, she had started to worry.

She had only been checking up on his reiatsu periodically, and the last time she had checked he had started walking home. Expecting him to be there, she made her way back toward the house.

She was slightly surprised when he hadn't been there when she returned. Throwing out her senses, she tried to pinpoint where he was.

It was always difficult to find Ichigo's exact location in Karakura Town; not because he hid his reiatsu, but because it was spread out everywhere. His reiatsu was wild and stuck to things, which made it hard to pinpoint his exact location in Karakura Town. Since he had spent his whole life here, the air always had some of his reiatsu floating around.

Concentrating, she tried to find where he was, but after a few minutes of searching, she gave up. Oh, she could tell he was still in Karakura town, but she just couldn't tell where. It didn't help that the last place she had sensed him had been near where the Arrancar had first landed, their lingering reiatsu was confusing her sensing abilities.

She decided to wait until night; if he wasn't back by then, she would go ask Renji or Matsumoto to help her search for him.

She had gone up into Ichigo's room, saying that she needed a quiet place to work on her homework; Yuzu and Karin were in their room watching TV. By 6:30, she was nervous. He was obviously staying in the same place, and wasn't moving.

Sighing, she threw out her senses again; trying to find him one last time before going out to search for him. After a minute or so, she saw something. A very familiar presence suddenly appearing near the parks and making his way towards the house. Ichigo had finally decided to stop doing whatever he had been doing and come home.

Sighing, she fell back on his bed, glad that nothing had happened to him. A few minutes later, she could hear the calls of, "Brother, you're back!" coming from downstairs.

Rukia sat up; she could feel his presence getting closer to the door. She took a deep breath and got ready to knock the depression off of his face.

When he opened the door and she saw his face, she was slightly confused. He didn't look depressed, or even worried about anything; he looked frustrated. That was strange. "Oh, Rukia you're here."

That managed to piss her off, "Is that all you have to say? I was worried about you all day because you disappear suddenly, and that's all you have to say?" As she said this, she hit him repeatedly on the head, "Your sisters were worried about you too, imagine the shock on Yuzu's face when she comes in and finds her big brother missing! She thought you had been abducted by aliens! Idiot."

Ichigo was silent for a moment, "Rukia, I'm fine. Sorry if I worried you, but I needed some time to myself."

Rukia looked down, "I guess I might have over reacted a little, I know you can take care of yourself."

From downstairs, Yuzu called, "Dinner time everyone!"

"Well, we should probably go eat, right?" Ichigo asked.

"Right."

* * *

**Okay, it has come to my attention that my story strongly resembles Daricio's "Feeling Hollow" (which is where I got the inspiration for this story by the way)**

**I had read it awhile ago, and liked it a lot. I liked his idea, and had a variation of my own stuck in my head for awhile. Things happened though, and I had my mind off fanfiction for awhile. When I got back around to it, I still had this idea stuck in my head, but I had forgotten the title and author that had inspired me.**

**It was not my intention to copy Daricio's work, and I will make sure that my story is different from his. **

**PS: I wrote this chapter **_**before **_**I figured this out, looking back it's kinda similar too. I swear this will be the last chapter like that.**


	3. Decisions

_**I don't own Bleach**_

**Happy Valentine's Day! I decided to upload this chapter early because it's Valentines Day. I hope you like it!**

**Decisions **

Ichigo flopped down onto his bed. That Hollow was so irritating. '_Go find someone else to train you, that's not my job._' Che, why had he even asked in the first place?

Come to think of it, why _had_ he asked? It was a complete mystery to him.

Ichigo sighed, he would have to find someone to train him though. What the Hollow had said was true; he was weak. He quickly went through the list of people that could currently help him get stronger; that was the Shinigami stationed in Karakura Town, Urahara Kisuke, and the Visard.

It would be awkward if he asked someone that he had already defeated if they could help him become stronger, so that eliminated Renji and Ikkaku. That also eliminated Yumichika, Matsumoto and Rukia. They were defiantly strong, but Ichigo knew he needed someone of Captain level to help him. Hitsugaya was out, that midget was always off doing some sort of task.

He _could_ ask Urahara to train him. Well, maybe not. Urahara had trained him before he went to Soul Society. Ichigo didn't want to trouble him with the task of helping him get stronger unless he had to.

That left him with only one option. The Visard. Shinji had told him that they could help him suppress his Hollow. Ichigo had tried to make a somewhat alliance with it when he had asked for training, but it had rejected. If it wasn't going to help him, then Ichigo might as well lock it up. After all, he didn't need it to randomly pop up and take over whenever it felt like it.

It was decided then, he would go to the Visard. With that thought in mind, Ichigo fell asleep.

…

When Ichigo woke up, he immediately felt something off. It was quiet, too quiet.

What was missing… "Ichiiiiigoooooo! Wake up!" his dad yelled as he burst through Ichigo's door and tried to kick him.

Oh, that's what it was.

Ichigo grabbed his dad's foot and threw him out the window. "Whaaa! How could you do that to your father, Ichigooooooo!"

Ichigo sighed, his father acted like such a child. He got up and went through his morning routine, and then headed downstairs. When he got there, he noticed that his dad was sitting at the table, making some weird proclamation. Whatever he said had pissed Karin off, because she promptly hit him on the head and walked off.

Ichigo vaguely wondered how his dad was able to survive falling out of a two story building almost every day. Maybe his reiatsu had affected him too? Oh well, he didn't have time to worry about that. Grabbing some random fruit, he walked out the door; dodging his father's second attempt to maul him that day on his way out.

He started making his way to school. Today he would tell Shinji that he would go with him to the Visard.

* * *

Today was just like any other day. I woke up, and burst into my son's room, attempting to kick him in the face. Of course, I missed. He threw me out of his window. "Whaaa! How could you do that to your father, Ichigooooooo!" I yelled dramatically as I fell to the ground. I mean really, who throws their father out of a two story building?

I twisted in the air and landed in a crouch. I smiled, my powers really were returning.

Pushing that thought aside, I ran back into the house. My beautiful daughters Yuzu and Karin were sitting at the kitchen table eating bowls of cereal. I noticed that my beautiful third daughter had left earlier; her reiatsu wasn't in the house.

"Good morning my beautiful daughters!" I yelled as I ran over to give them hugs. I only got a few feet before Karin punched me and walked over to the sink.

At that moment, I saw that Ichigo had come downstairs. He completely ignored everything. He grabbed a piece of fruit and walked out the door. But not before dodging another one of my super-awesome-dad-kicks. A few moments later, Yuzu and Karin did the same.

I was left in the empty house, the grin slowly faded from my face. Something was defiantly bothering Ichigo. None of his friends were in trouble… maybe he was just anxious about the upcoming war. No, Ichigo was never the one to worry about a fight, something else was bothering him.

Out in town somewhere, I sensed some stupid hollow appearing. It was nothing to worry about, I could tell it was a normal, weak hollow.

Oh, hollow. That's what it was. His inner Hollow.

I sighed, I knew that I had been forgetting something. A few days ago, I had sensed the reiatsu of the Visard. They must have decided that Ichigo was done interacting with Soul Society.

Well, I wasn't gonna let that happen, no son of mine was going to go play outlaw with a bunch of former Shinigami! I would help him suppress his inner Hollow myself if I had to!

I stopped my inner rant. Oh great, the Visard had already contacted him, he had lost control of himself in battle again, and he was acting strange…

No doubt about it, he was planning on going to join the Visard.

* * *

"GODDAMNIT!" I yelled. I swung Zangetsu, releasing a huge blast of white reiatsu that blew up the sideways buildings in front of me.

I was _pissed. _

Ichigo had decided to go to the Visard. That would mean I would be locked up, and only used for a power boost whenever Ichigo needed it. "GAHHHH!" I swung Zangetsu again, releasing an even bigger blast of white.

What had I been doing up till now? Helping Ichigo, that's what. I would butt in whenever Ichigo was about to lose and kick our opponents ass. Well, until Ichigo forced me out of control that is.

I had hoped that with our recent fight with Grimmjow, Ichigo would be able to see that it was ok to let me out to fight sometimes. Apparently, that wasn't the case. I was going to be locked up.

"You only have yourself to blame for that."

"Shut up! I don't need your input right now!" Stupid Zangetsu, butting in to other people's business.

From behind me, I heard Zangetsu sigh. Suddenly, the sword-Zangetsu in my hands disappeared. I turned around, "What the hell, give that back! I wasn't done blowing crap up yet!"

Zangetsu narrowed his eyes, "No."

I narrowed my eyes right back at him, "And why not?"

"Instead of blowing up the scenery, you should be trying to fix this." Oh great, he was going into wise-person-mode.

"Che, fix what? There's nothing to fix." I turned around and started to walk away, "He obviously doesn't need my help, just my power."

"Then why would he ask you for training? That sure sounded like he needed your help to me. Too bad you rejected. You guys could have formed an alliance or something, and you would get to fight without fighting for control, and-"

"I get it! I was stupid not to accept becoming that idiot's teacher! This is all my fault! Whoop-de-freaking-do."

"Why did you reject?"

I stopped. Why _had _I rejected Ichigo's offer? I could tell that he had been surprised at his own offer, but there was no doubt in my mind that he would have gone through with it if I had accepted. He would have trusted me and did whatever I told him to do if it meant he would get stronger.

Trust. He would have trusted me. A Shinigami trusting a Hollow, what a scary thought. Was that it then? Was I scared? Scared of what though? Trusting Ichigo? I had been silent for awhile, and Zangetsu spoke again. "Do you even have a reason?"

My fists clench, "No." I said quietly. I started walking away again. After a few steps, I felt the familiar weight of Zangetsu strapped to my back. I looked back at Zangetsu with surprise on my face. He looked back at me with an unreadable expression.

I turned back around, and reaching up, I grabbed onto Zangetsu's hilt. I sure as hell wasn't done blowing crap up yet.

Behind me, I heard Zangetsu sigh.

* * *

When Ichigo got to school, he expected Shinji to be there pestering him to join them. He wasn't. In fact, Ichigo couldn't sense him anywhere. Well, Ichigo had limited sensing abilities, Shinji could be anywhere.

He didn't want to ask Rukia or one of the other Shinigami if they could sense him, because he was pretty sure Shinji had said the Visard were wanted criminals in Soul Society. Hm, maybe that's why Shinji wasn't in school, Rukia had showed up with him today.

He went through the day, barely paying attention to class. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't figure out what it was… 'HOLLOW HOLLOW HOLLOW!' his Shinigami badge started to beep.

It only rang another two times though, before it fell silent. One of the other Shinigami stationed here had gotten it already.

Oh, that's what it was. His Hollow. It had been unnaturally silent since Ichigo had talked to it the other day. Usually, Ichigo's day was filled with sarcastic comments and rude remarks from the Hollow. Today though, it was silent. That made Ichigo a little paranoid, what exactly was it planning?

Oh well, it didn't matter. In another day or so, Ichigo wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

With that comforting thought in mind, Ichigo decided that it might be a good idea to listen to what the teacher was saying for a change.

…

Ichigo, Rukia and Orihime were walking towards the school's gates. It was the end of school and they had decided to head over to Urahara's. They had been informed that Sado was there training, and that's why he hadn't been in school today.

They hadn't taken more than a couple steps outside school grounds when they heard the cry, "IIIIIIchiiiiiiigooooooooooo!" and none other than Kurosaki Isshin appeared. He was full out running straight at Ichigo, and had no intention of slowing down.

Ichigo, who was not expecting his father to randomly appear at his school, was completely caught off guard and didn't react in time. His father ended up head butting him in the stomach.

Isshin stood up like nothing had happened, and declared, "MY SON, YOU WILL COME WITH ME! WE ARE GOING ON A SHORT TRIP! DO NOT WORRY, WE WILL BE BACK!" then he picked the still-recovering Ichigo up from the ground and ran off.

"Is he going to be ok?" Orihime asked.

"Truthfully, I don't know." Rukia responded.

…

It only took a few more seconds for Ichigo to fully recover. He immediately noticed that something was wrong. First, he was thrown over his dad's shoulder and was being carried somewhere, and second was that they were moving _way _to fast to be traveling at normal human speeds.

He quickly checked the reiatsu of the person carrying him and determined that it was, in fact, his dad. _"Wait, reiatsu?"_ Since when did his dad have reiatsu?

Suddenly, they stopped. Isshin dropped his son, who quickly looked around to see where they were. He noted that they were in a clearing, probably in one of the many parks located in Karakura Town.

Ichigo looked up at his dad, expecting him to have a goofy expression on his face and about to say something stupid. Instead, his father looked serious. "Ichigo." He paused, and lifted his hand up. Ichigo's eyes widened when he saw what was in his father's hand.

It was his Shinigami badge.

How. How was that possible, his dad couldn't even _see _ghosts, so how was he holding up Ichigo's Shinigami badge? Ichigo finally came to the brilliant conclusion that this couldn't be his father. He narrowed his eyes and stood up, "Who are you." It wasn't a question.

"That's not nice Ichigo, you can't tell that it's me?" Isshin said, back to his normal childish voice. He then proceeded to take out a picture of Masaki, "Oh, my beautiful wife, our handsome son is being mean to me! I thought I raised him right, but-"

"Fine! I believe it's you! No one else could do that without embarrassing themselves to death."

"Good, now that that's out of the way," he paused here and brought the Shinigami badge up to his chest, "we can get started on your training!"

The badge activated, Ichigo jumped forward, "Dad!"

* * *

**Hehe, I hope you liked it! I actually already had another chapter 3 written out, but I didn't like it and deleted it. **

**Did you like the scene with Zangetsu and Hichigo? (That will be what I'm going to call him, I just need to find the right place to name him) **

**What about the part where you got a peak into what Isshin was thinking? **

**Oh, did I do a good job keeping all of the characters in character? I thought I did a good-ish job on that...**

**Please review!**


	4. White Strawberry

_**I don't own Bleach**_

**White Strawberry**

Ichigo expected a few things when his father had used his Shinigami badge. After all, he had been told that the badge could, and would be deadly if used by a normal human. Some of the things he had expected to happen included his father's soul to pop out of his body and have his chain of fate severed.

His father's soul _did_ pop out of his body, but Ichigo's previous guesses as to what would happen were dead wrong. His father appeared in the black robes of a Shinigami. He had a Captains' haori tied around his shoulder, and a Zanpakuto tied at his waist.

"Yay! It worked!" Isshin declared as he threw his arms in the air.

Ichigo quickly closed the distance between him and his father and grabbed the front of his robes, "Worked! What the hell do you mean 'worked'? What the hell is going on!"

Ichigo suddenly found his Shinigami badge at his chest. "I think I owe you an explanation, just calm down and give me a minute." Any childishness had disappeared from his voice. Isshin then activated the badge, and Ichigo was separated from his body, landing on the ground. Isshin sat down on the ground next to where Ichigo had landed, "Where do you want me to start?"

Ichigo had calmed down a little by this point, asked, "Why are you dressed like a Shinigami?"

"Because I am one, just like you and Rukia-chan!" his voice went back to its usual childish-manor toward the end.

Ichigo was surprised, "You know about Rukia being a Shinigami?"

"Yep! I also know about all of the other Shinigami hanging around here right now! There's quite a few of them!" He paused, and his face went serious, "I also know about the Visard." He was quiet for a moment."I know that they have already contacted you, and wish for you to join them." Isshin sighed, "I do not wish for you to join them. I know that they are Shinigami/Hollow hybrids, and I know that you are one also."

Ichigo stiffened, and decided a change of topic was in order, "If you're a Shinigami, then why did you never know when a ghost was around, you can't be that good of an actor."

Isshin seemed to think before he said anything, "Because… when I left Soul Society, I had lost pretty much all of my power, and there was no guarantee that I would gain any of it back. But when Rukia turned you into a Shinigami, your reiatsu started affecting mine, and I started gaining my power back. I really couldn't see ghosts until about a month ago."

Isshin wasn't done talking, "But, back to what I was saying. I know that you have an inner hollow, and that you were planning on joining the Visard. Like I said, I'm not gonna let you join them."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "Then what am I suppose to do? Let the Hollow take over whenever the hell it feels like it? Not gonna happen."

Isshin stood up and dusted himself off, "No Ichigo, I'm going to help you deal with it. Stand up."

"You're gonna help? How, you're not a Visard, you don't know how to suppress it." But he stood up anyway.

Isshin smiled and reached into his robes, "Simple, you're going to use this." From his robes, he brought out a box of strawberries. White strawberries.

Ichigo looked confused, "White strawberries? I didn't know they came in that color. But how are they going to help?"

Still smiling, Isshin explained, "Ichigo, strawberries aren't usually white. These are _special_ strawberries, that will help you control your hollow."

Ichigo was quiet for a minute, "Why do they have to be strawberries? It couldn't be any other fruit? Do I really have to eat them?"

"Yep, you're gonna eat them, they'll help you with your hollow." He tossed the strawberries to Ichigo, "Eat up!"

Ichigo looked down at the box in his hands. Hesitantly, he took one of the white fruits out of its container. He looked at it for a minute, before taking a bite out of it. Surprisingly, it tasted like chocolate.

Not even a second after he had swallowed, he got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, similar to when he used Kon. The feeling only lasted about a half of a second before he felt like he was being dragged out of his body, just like when he used Kon. One problem though, he wasn't in his body.

A _very _familiar voice spoke from behind Ichigo, "Oi, asshole, what the hell did ya do!"

"Ha ha! They really worked! I gotta thank Kisuke for that!" Isshin had reverted back to his childish voice once again.

Ichigo turned in shock, there was no way… His eyes widened, and he grabbed Zangetsu from his back. "How the hell are _you _here." He asked threateningly.

Across from him, the white replica of himself also grabbed his Zangetsu from his back, "How the hell should I know!" He smiled deviously, "But it looks to me like ya want a fight."

It was silent, each waiting for the other to make the first move…

"Ichigo! I forbid you to fight your new brother!" Isshin chose this moment to speak up.

That caught both Ichigo and the Hollow off guard. "Excuse me sir, but if you are addressing me, then you are clearly insane."

"M-my what? No, a better question would be HOW he is even here." Ichigo said, pointing at the Hollow.

"It's rude to point, ya know." The Hollow said.

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"I will!"

Isshin sighed, "Hey, you two, shut up and listen." He was back to being dead serious, and he had a threatening edge to his voice.

Maybe it was the way he said it, but both of them immediately fell silent and turned to face him. Although, that didn't stop them from glaring at each other, and neither of them put Zangetsu away.

Isshin stared at them for a moment before continuing, "I am going to explain what happened, and I expect that neither of you will interrupt."

When both Ichigo and the Hollow nodded, he continued, "Those are no ordinary strawberries. I assume you know Urahara Kisuke, right?"

They nodded again, and the Hollow smirked. It was thanks to Urahara that he was even alive.

"Good." He sighed, "It was Urahara who created these strawberries. I asked him to make them specifically for you two. What they do exactly, is very similar to what a Soul Candy does. Instead of having a soul inside of them though, they separate two souls if they are already together. But it only works on a soul that is both Shinigami and hollow. There are also some faults. Once the hollow is released from where it was, it can only touch other hollow, or the Visard. It _cannot_ touch or harm-in any way- a regular soul, or another Shinigami."

Both Ichigo and the Hollow were quiet for a moment.

"So, I'm free? Like, forever?" The Hollow had an unrecognizable emotion in his voice.

"No, there is a time limit. Once the fruit is eaten, you are released for exactly 24 hours. But you can return to Ichigo's Inner World whenever you please." Isshin stated. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, _**never **_eat more than one in a day."

It seemed like a stupid question to ask, but Ichigo asked anyway, "Why?"

"Because you will, without a doubt, die."

"Oh, I see…"

"So why am I here?" the Hollow asked suddenly, "If I can't blow stuff up, then I have no reason to be here. Wait, I take that back," he turned to Ichigo, "I can still touch you! Let's fight!"

Ichigo put Zangetsu up and smirked, "Yeah, let's-"

He was cut off as Isshin hit him in the head, "Idiot, is that all you two can think about? I thought I forbid you two to fight each other. He _is _your new brother, after all."

"Once again, I dearly hope you are not addressing me." Was the Hollow's response.

"That Hollow is defiantly _not_ my brother."

Isshin looked surprised, "Wait, he doesn't have a name?" he hit Ichigo's head again, "Idiot, you didn't name your brother?"

"He's not my brother, and why would I name him? 'Hollow' is just fine, right?"

Isshin sighed, "No Ichigo, he needs a name. Now what should we name him…"

"Hey! Don't go deciding my name! What if I don't want a name? I-" but he was cut off by Isshin.

"I got it! You're name will be Hichigo! You just combine 'hollow' and 'Ichigo' and you get Hichigo! Bow down to my awesome naming skills!" looks like Isshin was back to being childish again.

"What a stupid name. I don't want to be called that." The newly named Hichigo said, "You couldn't think of anything better at least?"

"H-hey, that's mean!" Isshin pulled out the poster of Masaki, "Oh, my beloved wife, our second son is being mean to me! I wasn't the one who raised him, but I will be sure to teach him proper manors and-" he was cut off as Ichigo wacked him on the head.

"Oi, be serious and tell us why you made me bring _that _out here." He pointed his finger at Hichigo.

Isshin chuckled a little, "Oh, that's an easy one, you guys are gonna form an alliance."

* * *

**I'm sorry for that shortness of this chapter, but I got sick, and really didn't feel like writing. I know! Horrible excuse! **

**But anyway, did you like the chapter? I tried making it kinda funny. Isshin's mood swings are so fun!**

**Please review!**


	5. Black and White vs Dad Part 1

_**I don't own Bleach**_

**I won't be able to update tomorrow, so i'm posting this chapter now. Enjoy!**

**Black and White vs. Dad Part 1**

Eventually, I had gotten bored of blowing stuff up, and lay down against one of the sideways buildings that occupied this world.

I was a little tired from using up so much reiatsu, and was drifting in and out of consciousness. Sometimes, I would hear bits and pieces of Ichigo's conversations in the outside world, but I ignored them. It was actually kinda peaceful at the moment.

I hated it.

I knew that as soon as Ichigo found the Visard, I was done for. The calm before a storm. As if on cue, one of his thoughts drifted to me, _"Oh well, in another day or so, I won't have to worry about that stupid Hollow anymore."_

That little asshole. He really was gonna get rid of me.

I decided to leave him alone for right now and rest. There was no telling when those pesky Visard were gonna show up, and something told me I would need all of my energy for when they did. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep.

…

"…_Visard…join…gonna…"_

I immediately jumped up when I heard those words, on guard and ready for anything those Visard were gonna throw at me.

Curious as to where we actually were, I took a peak outside. I was surprised when I saw Ichigo and his father both dressed as Shinigami, and not the Visard. I quickly tuned into what they were saying.

"…_Hollow take over whenever the hell it feels like it? Not gonna happen."_ Psh, Ichigo you're so stupid.

I saw his father-was his name Isshin?-stand up, _"No Ichigo, I'm going to help you deal with it. Stand up."_ Strangely, he sounded serious, and not like a goofy little kid.

"_You're gonna help? How, you're not a Visard, you don't know how to suppress it." _I was also wondering how that was gonna work. And I was wondering how he looked like a Shinigami-I could even sense quite a bit of reiatsu too.

I saw him smile, and reach into his robes, _"Simple, you're going to use this."_

I laughed. Who the hell makes white strawberries! It's like they were trying to piss Ichigo off by purposely making them white! I needed to congratulate the person who made them.

I could tell that Ichigo was irritated by them. But he didn't flip out like I wanted him to. Instead, all I got was, _"White strawberries? I didn't know they came in that color. But how are they going to help?" _Idiot, they don't come in that color.

I heard Isshin sigh, _"Ichigo, strawberries aren't usually white. These are _special_ strawberries, that will help you control your hollow."_

I was suppressing laughter at this point, what the hell were a couple of colorless strawberries gonna do to me?

Ichigo was quiet, wondering if this was some sort of joke. _"Why do they have to be strawberries? It couldn't be any other fruit? Do I really have to eat them?"_ Che, so he was actually gonna eat them then? I guess he was kinda desperate to get me under control.

"_Yep, you're gonna eat them, they'll help you with your hollow."_ He tossed the strawberries to Ichigo, _"Eat up!"_

I sat back, slightly worried. What exactly did those strawberries do?

Ichigo slowly raised one to his mouth. My heartbeat sped up, and my hands tightened into fists. What was going to happen?

He bit it, and I closed my eyes.

There was a faint tingly feeling in my stomach, but that passed quickly. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

What. The. Hell. I was _outside_. What the fudge did those strawberries do? "Oi, asshole, what the hell did ya do!" I yelled at Isshin.

I was standing behind Ichigo, so he hadn't noticed I was there until I had spoken. He whipped around and grabbed Zangetsu off of his back, "How the hell are _you_ here." He sounded like he didn't want to see me, how rude.

I also grabbed my Zangetsu off of my back, "How the hell should I know?" I paused to smile evilly, "But it looks to me like ya want a fight."

We both got into our fighting stances, waiting for the other to make the first move…

"Ichigo! I forbid you to fight your new brother!"

I glanced around. Nope, we were the only ones here, "Excuse me sir, but if you are addressing me, then you are clearly insane."

Ichigo's response sounded more like something I would say, "M-my what? No, a better question would be HOW he is even here." He pointed his finger at me.

I smiled ever so slightly, deciding to tease him a bit, "It's rude to point, ya know."

"Shut up!" Desired effect.

"Make me!"

"I will!"

We would have started fighting right then and there, but Isshin had decided to speak up, "Hey, you two, shut up and listen."

He sounded real serious. I listened though; maybe he could explain what the hell was going on. Ichigo had been smart and did the same.

"I am going to explain what happened, and I expect that neither of you will interrupt." Good, some answers. I nodded my head along with Ichigo, and Isshin continued.

"Those are no ordinary strawberries. I assume you know Urahara Kisuke, right?" Oh, so it was _him_ who made the strawberries… Hm, Sandals sure like to mess with us. Come to think of it, it was thanks to him that I was even alive.

We nodded.

"Good." He sighed, "It was Urahara who created these strawberries. I asked him to make them specifically for you two. What they do exactly, is very similar to what a Soul Candy does. Instead of having a soul inside of them though, they separate two souls if they are already together. But it only works on a soul that is both Shinigami and hollow. There are also some faults. Once the hollow is released from where it was, it can only touch other hollow, or the Visard. It _cannot_ touch or harm-in any way- a regular soul, or another Shinigami."

We were both quiet. That … was actually pretty useful. For more reasons than just separating a hollow from a Visard. There were a few hollows out there that could actually merge with a Shinigami; either against the Shinigami's will or not. These could be used to separate them, thus saving the Shinigami.

But, all this thinking led to another question, "So, I'm free? Like, forever?" I didn't know how to feel about that. I was part of Ichigo's soul. A part of him, just like Zangetsu.

"No, there is a time limit. Once the fruit is eaten, you are released for exactly 24 hours. But you can return to Ichigo's Inner World whenever you please." Isshin stated. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, _**never**_eat more than one in a day." I felt some sort of relief at that. I could return to torment Ichigo whenever I pleased.

Ichigo chose this moment to speak up, "Why?" Gosh, I could practically _feel _the stupid radiating from him. Of course there would be some sort of horrible consequence, it was Urahara after all.

"Because you will, without a doubt, die."

Oh, wasn't expecting that one. I was thinking more along the lines of 'I would be able to escape forever' and all. Oh well.

"Oh, I see…" was Ichigo's intelligent reply.

Anyway, this was getting boring. "So why am I here? If I can't blow stuff up, then I have no reason to be here. Wait, I take that back." I turned towards Ichigo, "I can still touch you! Let's fight!"

He smirked, and was about to attack. Notice that I said 'about.' His father immediately hit him on the head, "Idiot, is that all you two can think about? I thought I forbid you two to fight each other. He _is _your new brother, after all."

I nearly barfed, "Once again, I dearly hope you are not addressing me."

Looked like Ichigo was having the same reaction as me, "That Hollow is defiantly _not_ my brother."

I was actually surprised when Isshin got mad at Ichigo for not naming me. He was defiantly different from other Shinigami. I actually started to respect the guy a little; that is until he joyously declared that my new name was Hichigo.

"I got it! You're name will be Hichigo! You just combine 'hollow' and 'Ichigo' and you get Hichigo! Bow down to my awesome naming skills!"

That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. "What a stupid name. I don't want to be called that." I paused, "You couldn't think of anything better at least?" I didn't want to hurt his feelings to bad… Na, crushing them would be _so_ much more fun.

"H-hey, that's mean!" I just tuned them out from here.

At this point, I was getting board. Isshin would clearly not allow me and Ichigo to fight- at least not while he was present- and I couldn't touch anyone else. I was about to try and figure out how to get back into Ichigo's Inner World, when I heard the sentence that I thought I would never come out of a Shinigami's mouth.

"Oh, that's an easy one, you guys are gonna form an alliance."

* * *

It was dead silent in the clearing. Two of the three occupants had shock clearly written on their faces. The third looked serious, awaiting the others' responses.

Laughter. It was the last thing Isshin had expected. He narrowed his eyes, "What's so funny." It wasn't a question.

Through his laughing fit, nobody could understand what Hichigo was saying. Ichigo, being the emotionally detached one, hadn't burst out laughing. Instead, he had a look of disbelief on his face. "What he's trying to say is, are you fucking serious?" his voice rose a little towards the end.

"I'm being dead serious."

By this point, Hichigo had calmed down a bit. Only to burst into another laughter-spasm when he heard Isshin speak. He even fell on the ground.

Isshin sighed, and before either of them could blink, Hichigo had a Zanpakuto stuck in his forehead. Good thing the sword just went through him, or that would had been the end of the white strawberry.

"I find nothing funny about this. I thought that you might actually be a little more open minded to this since your choices are limited. I could always let Ichigo run on over to my good friends the Visard. No skin off my back." Isshin was completely different from the light-hearted person he was a second ago.

Inside his head, Isshin's thoughts contradicted his words, _'Psh, like I would let Ichigo go to the Visard. But it's not like my newest son knows that.'_

Off to the side, Ichigo was staring. He hadn't even _sensed_ his father's movements. Just how fast was he?

Hichigo was staring up at Isshin, a scowl on his face. "How do you plan on making us work together, you can't even touch me."

"Your right. I can't touch you." He pulled his Zanpakuto out of Hichigo's head and walked over to Ichigo, "But, I can touch him." With that, he slammed his fist into his son's unsuspecting stomach. Faster and stronger than he normally would be.

Hichigo had stood up by this time, and winced. That looked like it hurt.

Isshin removed his fist from his son's stomach, "Did I forget to mention? You'll feel all of the pain Ichigo feels once you go back into his Inner World."

Hichigo was silent, yet _another_ reason why they should work together. All these reason were starting to pile up, it was starting to annoy Hichigo.

"Oi, what the hell? You punched me!"

Isshin turned to his son, "It's necessary."

"What do you mean." Ichigo narrowed his eyes as he said this.

Isshin sighed and got into a fighting stance, "It's necessary, because we're gonna fight. It'll be two vs. one. You two vs. me. For as long as it takes for you two to start working as a team, and not trying to kill each other every chance you get."

With no further warning, Isshin lunged at Ichigo, Zanpakuto unsheathed.

* * *

**Hm, what do you think? I thought I should put a scene about how Hichigo is feeling about all this, but that seemed to take up most of the chapter...**

**Anyway, there's gonna be action in the next chapter. Yay action! **

**Please review!**


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